Keeping up with past and present happenings in a remarkable small town.

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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Pullman Park ~

Pullman Park, built in 1934, was used for minor league baseball for twenty years until the Pittsburgh Pirates farm team left in 1951. The ballpark saw many famous faces during its professional baseball days, including Lou Gehrig, Whitey Ford, and Joe DiMaggio who played for a farm team of the New York Yankees. As of 2009 Pullman Park is the home of the Butler Blue Sox.

I remember the old Pullman Park---where the 4th of July fireworks were held---spread out blankets on the field and watched----I recall the parking lot was covered with furnace cinders (easily available--recycling!!!!) they had a hard crunch sound, but if you stumbled and fell the cinders imbedded in your knees for life!!!!

As being a member of the grounds crew at Pullman no visitors have made a negative comment about the Park. Last year there were over 120 games played at Pullman. That will probably be broken (more games) this season. Go and watch a BlueSox game and enjoy the facility. FRED

Why in the hell does a baseball field with synthetic turf on every square inch of the infield need a "grounds crew?"

But I guess fake grass is appropriate, since the redesign bastardized a once historic venue. Stands are too close to the field (have seen foul balls nearly decapitate people) and so are the fences if they expect anything other than a college wooden bat league to play there

The following is a record of the Major League teams that played in Butler against the Butler Yanks.&bull May 22, 1936: The New York Yankees had a travel day off and were going from Detroit to Philadelphia, so they stopped in Butler. The game started at 4:30 p.m. so they could catch a train to Philadelphia. They played almost their entire starting team. Both Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio played.• May 16, 1938: DiMaggio and Gehrig played their second game in Butler. This is no doubt the only game in history that was called "due to autographs." That game was played a week before the Butler team played its first league game that year. Due to large attendance, the New York team also received the largest payment it ever had received for a minor league exhibition.• June 13, 1940: The New York Yankees made their third and last visit to Butler. It was DiMaggio's third visit, and he had one hit in three times at bat. There was a disappointing crowd of only 1,914 for the game.• June 27, 1940: The St. Louis Cardinals "Gas House Gang" played here against the Butler Yankees. They used their entire starting team and put on a great show. Most fans remarked that it was the best ever staged in Butler by a Major League team.

I lived across the street from here in the 60s and 70s. My friends and I played in that park nearly every day climbing around in the bleachers and the grounds inside and outside the fence.

There was a single old groundskeeper then who we called "Doggie". He would constantly chase us out and then repeat the whole show everyday as we always came back, day after day, year after year. Occasionally he we would lay out sunbathing naked, which we thought was hilarious and we always would throw stuff at him to get him to chase us.

Outside the park fence there was the creek, swinging bridge, cement plant and a truck lot full of junked trucks that were a ball to play in. All of this we turned into the greatest of amusement parks. It was a wonderful time and place for young boys to do what boys do.

Actual ball games were rare then. but when they had them, all of us would chase the foul balls inside and out in the parking lot. They would pay us $.25 for each one returned.

The park was very dilapidated then and mostly unused. Now it looks great, and you are lucky to have it wherever it is, but I bet it's not as much fun as it was then for us. Back then, kids made their own fun, and Pullman Park was the perfect raw material to play out young fantasies of adventure.